


Allergy Season

by itsnothingspecial



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Allergies, Fluff, High School, I Don't Even Know, I forgot how to tag, I should be sleeping, M/M, Volleyball Practice, damn that's a tag, or im just lazy rn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:27:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23323936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsnothingspecial/pseuds/itsnothingspecial
Summary: Akaashi has seasonal allergies and Bokuto does his darn best to make his best friend suffer a little less
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Kudos: 95





	Allergy Season

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the shitty summary but I found this piece while going through some old writing and I'm just copying and pasting stuff around. this is months old and I just thought "meh, why not" and now here I am at one in the morning
> 
> this was of course inspired by my own seasonal allergies that KILL ME every fucking year
> 
> anyway, this is not really edited, just posting it cuz it looked done
> 
> also, I apologize for my shitty writing, as I said this is months old

Akaashi hated Spring. Therefore, he hated the start of every school year. 

The reason was that school started in the oh-so-lovely month of April. And April just happened to be in the middle of spring. This only meant one thing for Akaashi. 

Hay Fever. Or, to put it lightly. Seasonal allergies. Akaashi suffered from them for as long as he could remember. One year after another he went through a month and a half of pollen-infested hell. The only thing Akaashi could do during that time was wear a mask, take allergy medicine that did nothing to alleviate his misery, drink green tea until his blood turned sweet, and plug in an air purifier in his bedroom that mercifully granted him sleep at night.

It became routine for Akaashi. One that he loathed to the ends of the earth, but he needed to do in order to survive.

Akaashi couldn’t help but feel a little self-conscious about the way he looked when he started school with a mask covering half of his face, a red and runny nose, and red-rimmed, puffy, dry yet watering eyes taking up the other half. He only felt a tad bit better when he saw dozens of other students in the same boat as him.

Akaashi could go on for an eternity about this special time of the year. Like how his nose fancied to play ring-around-the-rosy with being runny and then stuffy. Or how his pockets were always filled with tissues when he first walked into school but were empty by lunch because he could never have enough to last him the entire day. Then, there was the annoyance of having to run to the bathroom between every class to change his mask and splash cold water on his face to ease his dry eyes and wash away some of the stickiness.

There were days where the symptoms were bearable, and he could push the pain aside. Then there were days like today. Where it was so suffocating that only a smack to the back of Akaashi’s head could bring him back to reality and remind just how much pleasure the universe took in making his life miserable.    
  


Except, the universe decided to be extra playful today and promoted that smack to the back of his head to a full-blown volleyball to the front of his head, which in better terms, was his face. 

Multiple swears that weren’t coming from Akaashi reached his ears, coupled with multiple footsteps that must have been the rest of the team coming over to check on him. They must have thought that something was seriously wrong with Akaashi if he received a ball to the face. And they wouldn’t have been wrong.

‘Are you okay?!’ Multiple voices shouted, panicked.

Akaashi nodded while his eyes were squeezed shut and he pinched his nose. He was lucky that he had only missed the ball while trying to set instead of it being spiked to his face, but the ball hitting his nose caused an itching pressure to build up. 

The tissues were barely out of his pocket before he couldn’t hold it in anymore and sneezed inside his mask. 

‘Ugh.’ Akaashi hung his head in displeasure. ‘I’m fine. Can I just step out for a moment?’

Sarukui walked up from behind Akaashi and pat his back. ‘Yeah, it’s alright. In fact, we should take a break.’

Konoha pat his back, then walked away. ‘Nice catch, Akaashi.’ The grin evident in his words.

‘Sorry ‘bout that, Akaashi!’ Komi apologized. ‘I hope ya didn’t get hurt too bad.’

Akaashi told Komi it was fine and that it wasn’t his fault. ‘I should have been able to set that. I just… miscalculated.’

‘Okay! As long as you're not hurt.’ Komi smiled and shot him a double thumbs-up before walking away to drink water.

After retrieving another mask from his bag, Akaashi went to the bathroom. An extra pair of footsteps echoing his, an arm was thrown over his shoulders not a second later. ‘Akaaaaashi! You okay? That was a nasty ball to the face you took right there. D’ya need to go to the nurse? Is your nose bleeding? Is that why you're changing your mask?’

Akaashi sighed but continued to the bathroom. ‘I’m fine, Bokuto-san. The volleyball didn’t hit me that hard. I’m just going to the bathroom to wash my face and hopefully clear my eyes a little so I can see the ball clearly next time. And I’m changing my mask because the one I have now is probably soaked in snot.’

‘Hm? Why’s that, ‘Kaashi? Are you sick? Now that I think ‘bout it. You were sick at the beginning of last year too. You didn’t catch the same thing twice, did you?’ Bokuto followed Akaashi into the bathroom and waited for the other to answer after he was done splashing his face with water. 

Feeling a bit refreshed from the cold water, Akaashi released a breath before putting on the new and clean mask. ‘I’m not sick, Bokuto-san. I have seasonal allergies. I get them every year starting April; hence why I was in a similar state last year.’ 

The ace trailed after his setter as he exited the bathroom and headed back to the gym. ‘Oh! I’m glad you’re not sick then!’ He then slung an arm over his shoulders again, leading them to the benches where their bags were. ‘You should drink some water.’

The arm around Akaashi’s shoulders was removed, but Bokuto didn’t leave his side as he chugged half of his water bottle. Once he’d had enough, he offered the bottle to Bokuto, who drank the remaining half.

‘You know, Akaashi,’ Bokuto crushed the water bottle into a tight ball, then stuffed it into his bag, ‘If you ever need anything, just say the word! I’ll do anything to help you now since I didn’t know last year!’

He didn’t think he’d ever need to take Bokuto up on the offer, but he was moved by his endless kindness and honesty. Akaashi nodded and smiled in thanks. It was a small smile, barely a twitch of his lips, but to Bokuto it was everything. He returned it, but a thousand times brighter than one Akaashi could ever muster.

They both began walking on court before a sudden exclamation from Bokuto paused the both of them, and prompted Akaashi to turn around to see what had brought upon said exclamation. 

Bokuto had brought his fist down on his other open palm. ‘Oh! Speaking about that, I’m sorry ‘bout not being there for you last year. You seemed pretty worse for wear so I thought you would want some space. I hope you didn’t feel offended or anything about me ignoring you a bit. I felt bad about it afterward. Do you forgive me?’

It took Akaashi a few seconds to understand what Bokuto was talking about. He couldn’t remember much that happened while he was in his haze of pollen, other than the sneezing, the coughing, and teary eyes. They didn’t allow Akaashi to have his usual perceptiveness. Not for the first time, Akaashi was touched. He hadn’t thought Bokuto would feel guilty about the year prior, much less apologize a year later for something Akaashi himself had forgotten about until that moment. Of course, he wouldn’t ever tell Bokuto that he had actually been a bit hurt about the distance between the two. But now that Akaashi knew the reason for the space he felt relieved.

Akaashi released an exasperated sigh. ‘Of course, I forgive you, Bokuto-san. And thank you for clarifying about last year. I was in no way offended. So, don’t worry about it.’

The smile Akaashi received was blinding, it was difficult to refrain from returning the gesture. 

‘Thanks, ‘Kaashi!’ Now toss to me some more!’

* * *

Akaashi sneezed

‘Bless you!’

Akaashi startled. He turned around and spotted Bokuto steadily making his way over. There was a smile on his face and a sandwich in his hands. 

Akaashi rubbed his nose through his mask. ‘Thank you, Bokuto-san.’

Bokuto draped his arm over Akaashi’s shoulders. ‘Hey, hey, hey, Akaashi! No problem! Wanna eat lunch together?’

The two were already heading toward the roof where they ate lunch together. Even though Akaashi agreed every time, he didn’t understand why Bokuto still liked to ask, and he couldn’t help but find it a bit endearing. (Little did Akaashi know, Bokuto asked every day to see if he was okay with it/still wanted to spend his lunch with him, or if Akaashi didn’t feel like it. Though Bokuto dreaded that day, he wanted to always provide Akaashi with a choice.)

The two were walking with Bokuto’s light chatter filling the silence, when Bokuto clamped his mouth shut and suddenly stopped walking, causing Akaashi to stop as well. ‘Bokuto-san?’

The ace turned his head to the side to look at Akaashi. There was an expression of concentration on his face before it lit up into a smile. ‘Hey, Akaashi, wanna eat lunch somewhere else, instead of on the roof?’

Akaashi's face took on a puzzled expression before he realized what Bokuto meant. ‘Oh, Bokuto-san, it’s okay if we go to the roof, I have a mask on so the pollen shouldn’t bother me too much. Plus, it gets a bit stuffy inside.’

‘Hm.’ Bokuto put on a thoughtful look, with his hand under his chin and his eyes squinted. Akaashi thought it looked adorable.

‘Ah!’ Akaashi snapped back to attention, only to have Bokuto grab his hand and pull him in the opposite direction of the roof. ‘We’ll just sit in the classroom with the window open, but let's try to find one that doesn’t have a sakura tree right in front of it!’

Akaashi blinked and stared down at their intertwined hands. ‘Bokuto-san–’

‘It’s okay, Akaashi! I did some research, and even though it’s nice to have some fresh air, you should limit yourself to how much so you don’t have an allergy attack.’

The setter lifted his gaze from their hands to the back of Bokuto’s head in a daze, and he didn’t know if it was from his suffocating allergies or the weightlessness he was experiencing from the carefulness in Bokuto’s tone and actions.

Akaashi’s stomach was in knots, and he wondered vaguely if he was getting sick.

* * *

‘Good afternoon, everyone,’ Akaashi greeted everyone as he entered the gym. He received polite nods and responses in return. 

Akaashi went and changed along with replaced his medical mask, and when he stepped out again he was met with wide golden eyes. ‘Good afternoon, Bokuto-san,’ he said. 

Bokuto smiled widely, with his hands on his hips. ‘Hey, Akaashi! How are you feeling?’ He walked over, then followed Akaashi to where the others were stretching.

Akaashi plopped himself down on the floor, Bokuto following suit right across him, and they both proceeded to reach for the toes. ‘I’m doing fine, thank you.’ If possible, Bokuto’s smile increased in size. ‘That’s good to hear!’

The team finished off their stretches and split into two teams of three so they could play a match. Practice went on this time without a hitch, no volleyball to the face for anyone. The gym echoed with the squeaks of shoes, the smacks of the volleyball hitting skin, the thwack of the ball hitting the floor every now and then, and the joyous shouts of the players after a won rally.

Soon practice was over, for everyone except the setter and the ace.

Akaashi made his way over to his bag, where he pulled out a thermos. Bokuto walked up next to him. ‘What’s that?’ he questioned

Akaashi’s eyes flicked over to the golden ones that had their attention stolen by the thermos. He then returned his gaze in front of him and opened the top. ‘You saw it before, Bokuto-san. I took it out during lunch, it’s green tea. Helps with my allergies.’ Akaashi took a sip, pleased the tea still held a little warmth to it, not enough where the heat could clear his nose, but enough it still enjoyable to drink.

‘Well, at least when it’s hot,’ he corrected himself. He sealed it then put it back in his bag.

Bokuto followed him onto the court and both went to stand in their positions. ‘Why don’t you microwave it?’ Bokuto asked after he spiked a straight. Akaashi almost laughed, instead, he let his lips quirk up, but Bokuto didn’t see it.

‘That’s because it wouldn’t warm up the tea since my thermos is metal. It could also blow up.’

‘Woah.’ Bokuto ran up to hit another spike, and when he landed he continued. ‘Really?! That's–!’

‘Dangerous,’ Akaashi interrupted. He set another ball, but this time Bokuto didn’t spike it. The ace caught it instead, then ambled to Akaashi, who was bewildered. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

‘Let’s go home,’ Bokuto said. The ball is under his arm and he waits for Akaashi, who just stared. ‘You should get home and have some tea, Akaashi.’ Bokuto’s face was serious.

Akaashi almost scoffed. ‘Bokuto-san, I’m perfectly fine to do extra practice with you. I’m not actually sick, these are just symptoms,’ he crosses his arms. He couldn’t believe Bokuto even suggested going home early. The man didn’t know when to stop and it was usually Akaashi that said when it was time for their extra practice to come to an end. Akaashi didn’t want his upperclassman to baby him, he didn’t expect Bokuto to do so in the first place. It was touching, but now Akaashi believed he was taking it too far. 

‘I’ll have tea when I get home no matter what. It doesn’t matter when,’ Akaashi stated. ‘It won’t get worse, my allergies usually calm down a bit by the end of the day,’ he added as an afterthought. He saw the inner turmoil Bokuto faced from the twist in his face. Akaashi knew he really wanted to continue playing as well, he just needed another push.

‘I want to continue practicing with you, Bokuto-san.’

The other visibly deflated and Akaashi inwardly cheered. ‘Fine,’ Bokuto grumbled in feigned defeat. ‘But I’m gonna walk you home all the way, today! All the way to your doorstep!’

Not for the first time that day Akaashi’s stomach twisted. He just kept his face passive and tilted his chin up. ‘Fine.’

* * *

Akaashi and Bokuto are both walking home. Well, really they were walking to Akaashi’s home since Bokuto swore to do so. The setter listened to his captain’s endless chatter, commenting on something every now and then. Other than that, the walk was peaceful.

Akaashi wasn’t lying when he said his allergies weren’t as suffocating in the evening. They only stopped at a public restroom once so he could splash his face and empty his pockets of used tissues. This time, Akaashi didn’t replace his mask and just threw it out. He could finally breathe a bit more properly, and the light breeze felt nice against his entire face. 

The few times he did sneeze or cough, Bokuto would say ‘ Daijoubu desu ka’, and every time Akaashi would nod in gratitude. The usual itch in his eyes was quelled, and he could see a little clearer. Like the way Bokuto’s eyes beautifully reflected the sunset whenever they were facing it. How the city lights illuminated his face, making his smile the brightest source of light in the city whenever he laughed at his own jokes. And how he walked so so close to Akaashi that he swore (and hoped) that sometimes their hands brushed. 

The adrenaline that consumed him when he was in the presence of Bokuto was addicting. The entire day Akaashi’s gut had been twisting itself into knots, only when Bokuto was around. Akaashi couldn’t even describe how he felt when Bokuto so openly cared and worried for him. In the morning apologizing for his behavior the year before, offering his help in dealing with Akaashi’s allergies, worrying that he’d have an allergy attack if they had lunch on the roof, wanting to skip their extra practice so Akaashi could head home early, and walking him all the way home.

It was this that Akaashi missed at the beginning of his first school year, this that Akaashi didn’t even know he missed. If he had to suffer an entire day of stupid seasonal allergies just to be able to experience this, Akaashi would give up all of his allergy-free days in a heartbeat to live the rest of his life like this, have every day end like this. Next to Bokuto, feeling the lightest he’s ever felt.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you if you made it this far! hope you enjoyed! stay safe


End file.
